DRUG RINGS TAPPING PINAYS AS MULES

INTERNATIONAL drug syndicates have been tapping Filipinas looking for
work abroad as drug couriers, the Department of Foreign Affairs said
yesterday.

The DFA said the number of Filipinas caught carrying drugs has been on
the rise, the latest involving a five-kilo shipment of cocaine
intercepted at a Malaysian airport.

The DFA said that as of December 2004, its missions abroad had
reported 116 Filipinos involved in drug-related case.

Of this number, 35 were in the Americas, 32 in the Middle East and
Africa, 26 in Europe and 23 in Asia and the Pacific. The Embassy in
Brazil said there were 15 Filipinos in Brazil caught smuggling in
drugs from Thailand and Turkey.

The DFA said drug syndicates usually offer jobs in an Asian capital.
On arrival the victim is told to stay in a hotel and get in touch with
a contact person by telephone.

The contact man meets the victim and tells her she is to deliver a
package to another destination, usually a Latin American country via
Europe. The victim is provided with a round-trip ticket.

After delivery, the victim returns to the Asian capital and receives a
payment of $4,000.

The victim risks imprisonment of two to six years, depending on the
volume of the contraband, if arrested at her destination.

The DFA said it is extending help to Aquiline Nino Quiemno, 25, who
was caught with five kilos of cocaine at the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport.

Quiemno, who arrived from Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 29,
carried the contraband inside her bag.

The Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said cooperation by Quiemno with
investigators has led to several arrests.